Iran expected to be on agenda as Israeli PM visits Japan

AFP, TOKYO

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was to arrive in Tokyo yesterday for talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe where he is expected to take up the issues of Iranian nuclear talks and economic cooperation.

Netanyahu is likely to press Japan to side with Israel over nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers when he meets with Abe this afternoon, the Asahi Shimbun reported.

Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany are to begin their talks in Vienna tomorrow, when they start drafting the text of a comprehensive and potentially historic deal.

In a nutshell, such an accord would reduce the scale of the Islamic republic’s atomic program so as to render any dash to make nuclear weapons extremely difficult and easily detectable.

In return, all UN Security Council sanctions and additional, unilateral Western restrictions targeting Iran’s lifeblood oil exports would be lifted.

Netanyahu is likely to call on Abe not to lift sanctions, reflecting Israel’s position that nothing short of a total dismantling of Iran’s nuclear program is acceptable, the Asahi said.

Japan, which is heavily dependent on Middle Eastern oil, has maintained friendly relations with Iran through its years of ostracism, keeping up a diplomatic two-way that many developed countries cut off decades ago.

Along with China, India and South Korea, Japan is among Iran’s biggest oil export markets.

The West and Israel have long suspected that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons capability alongside its civilian program, something Tehran denies.

However, since Iranian President Hassan Rouhani took office in Iran in August last year, hopes have been raised of an end to the long-running crisis.

Abe and Netanyahu are also expected to agree to strengthen cooperation on countering cyberattacks, Kyodo News reported, citing an unnamed government source.

They are also likely to agree to hold a security dialogue at their level and increase exchanges between their defense officials, it said.

On the economic front, Netanyahu is likely to give a sales pitch for Israeli technologies as he will meet with Japanese business leaders tomorrow, local media reported.